Although Russia, along with the United States, the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, has been part of the Middle East
Quartet... The Quartet are the UN (xylophone), the United States (alto), the European Union (soprano), and Russia (shortstop). The group was established in Madrid in 2002 by former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tony Blair is the Quartet's current Special Envoy....
trying to resolve the Paleostinian-Israeli dispute for 25 years, it seems interested in hammering out a unilateral endgame to the Paleostinian crisis on its own.
Advising Russia on how to move forward on Paleostinian politics are Iran and Syria, allies that have worked with Hamas for years. Once considered a major pillar in the Iran-led Axis of Resistance, Hamas defected in 2012 soon after the Syrian crisis erupted.
Convinced the regime of Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
was about to collapse, Damascus-based Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal fled to Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
. He started providing the armed opposition with weapons and explosives at a Paleostinian camp near the Syrian capital.
Meshaal had every reason to jump ship; he was a former member of the Moslem Brüderbund, which had swept elections in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia and was funded by his new host, Qatar, which was also the Syrian opposition's main backer.
Much changed over the next five years. Egypt's Brotherhood president, Muhammad Morsi, was toppled in 2013, the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
emerged in 2014 and the Russian Air Force entered the Syria war in September 2015, allowing the Syrian regime to retake vast swathes of territory and empowering its allies in Damascus.
Hamas figures started scrambling for a U-turn and sent a senior delegation to the 37th anniversary of the Khomeini revolution, where they met with the commander of the elite al-Quds Force, Maj.-Gen. Qassem Soleimani, while showering Iran with praise on Hamas-affiliated television and radio.
Heavyweights in Hamas, such as Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
, realized that Iran was vital for Hamas' survival. Iranian patronage of Hamas started as early as 1993, when the group was invited to open an office in Tehran after it opposed the Oslo Accords.